CMS solutions - so many to choose from
I'm searching for a CMS solution for a community-based website consisting of the following features:
* Blog/News & Reviews section (Only one blog)
* Forum
* Shopping cart/product catalogue - probably the single most important aspect
* Easy customisation using templates
* RSS Feeds
* A centralised membership database so that once you are logged in on the home page, you can post in the forum, comment on the blog, submit reviews etc without having seperate logins for each section.
* Scalability - I'm not expecting a huge amount of traffic, but I would like a system that could hold up under the occasional large spike in traffic
* Easy to upgrade
* Easy to use and setup - I know some basic HTML and a bit of scripting in asp (but not php or CSS) and have set up a WordPress blog previously. I'm not exactly an expert, but I can do the basic and intermediate stuff. Although ideally speaking, I would prefer something that just works well out of the box. The trickiest aspects I would imagine would be the shopping cart/product catalogue part. I would need a system that could provide that functionality without me having to tear my hair out.
From doing some research here and elsewhere, I have come across the following solutions. These appear to be the most popular ones:
* joomla - seems to be really good and has decent functionality
* drupal - ditto for drupal
* Typo3 - complex, but extensive functionality
* cmsmadesimple - really simple to use, but I wonder how well it compares with joomla, drupal and Typo3
* DotNetNuke - appears to have great functionality, but I would prefer to use a non-Microsoft solution to reduce licensing costs
* cmsMS
* Expression Engine - looks good, but ideally would prefer a cheaper system
What would you guys recommend? Which of them works best with shopping carts?
decibel.places posted this at 01:18 — 30th July 2008.
He has: 1,494 posts
Joined: Jun 2008
I am staunchly in the Drupal corner myself. but it does take a while to "get" it...
WordPress is cool for simpler blog style sites.
Didja know you can "test drive" default installations at OpenSourceCMS?
And also check out ShowcaseCMS (by a TWF member)
Two reasons I like Drupal over Joomla:
1. I have seen Joomla sites attacked by nasty hackers - never had a security problem with Drupal
2. Nearly all Drupal modules are free - while quite a few Joomla extensions are "commercial" == $$
Michael James Swan posted this at 06:42 — 30th July 2008.
He has: 400 posts
Joined: May 2008
I was going to choose Drupal last night but i thought i would wait until you got hold of this post. I knew that you might find this one interesting.
I also like Drupal, it has taken me a little while to get used to it but i am have it under control now.
Megalorian posted this at 18:14 — 30th July 2008.
They have: 5 posts
Joined: Jul 2008
I haven't checked out OpenSourceCMS or ShowcaseCMS but will do so. Thanks for the suggestion.
That sounds like a strong case for Drupal. I'm currently evaluating Joomla with a local installation.
Where does the complexity lie with Drupal? Is it with setting it up, customisation or just getting used to the layout?
What I'm really interested in is how well everything ties in together, like how easy it is to integrate extensions for things like forums and not have to hack around with it so that a single login gives the user access to all sections of the site.
decibel.places posted this at 14:31 — 1st August 2008.
He has: 1,494 posts
Joined: Jun 2008
The complexity with Drupal is with the fine-grained permissions by role - which also happens to be it's strength. Role control in Drupal is acknowledged to be superior to Joomla.
It is possible, particularly by setting the proper permissions, to create a basic admin role that has only the options required by the user.
Another option is creating a custom admin page with "hot" buttons eg http://jcat.netsperience.org/manage/adminjc.html (you won't be a ble to log in, the demo is for the buttons)
It can also take a bit of time to fully comprehend Drupal concepts like Taxonomy and Workflow but once mastered these also put enormous power in your hands.
Finally, the vast selection of contrib modules can be staggering - and some modules appear to do the same kind of things, so selection is time consuming but it's like being a kid in a candy store.
The Drupal core comes with forums blogs and CMS.
You may want to add a rich text editor (the most complete/complex are FCKeditor and tinyMCE - but there are much simpler ones too) which make editing and adding content much like using Word
webwiz posted this at 19:57 — 30th July 2008.
He has: 629 posts
Joined: May 2007
I have a feeling you are unlikely to get a definitive answer. In my opinion, it's similar to asking what car you should buy - you'll get a lot of recommendations, but few likely to fit your own needs.
I think you'd be better off trying some CMS systems for yourself. To that end, OpenSourceCMS.com offers free trials of a huge number of CMSs, including Drupal, Joomla, Wordpress, etc., as decibel.places points out above.
Hoping this helps.
Cordially, David
--
delete from internet where user_agent="MSIE" and version < 8;
Megalorian posted this at 18:42 — 31st July 2008.
They have: 5 posts
Joined: Jul 2008
I think you're right. I'll just have to try out as many as I can to find one which is suitable for my needs.
Greg K posted this at 20:45 — 31st July 2008.
He has: 2,145 posts
Joined: Nov 2003
Just my 2cents worth on what little I have played with it, but CMS Made Simple (CMSMS) seems like a very easy one for those not needing anything too fancy, but most of all simplicity for the end users who will manage the content.
I'm using this CMS for a site for a church, where after initial setup, it will be up to them to take care of the site, add new code, etc. I started with Drupal, and was planning on stripping out a lot of the admin functionality for them. (ie, to add a new page, imo, for the non web person CMS is easier to understand that the big list of options Drupal gave.)
Now this is not to say that somewhere in drupal this is a way to customize the admin for users, but found CMS offered what they needed in a nice simple to use package.
I'd love to if I had spare time write a simple CMS, but already have like 3 projects on hold now that I do web programming for a living now.
-Greg
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